Connecter for heating appliances



Smm 3% l@ M5551@ K, K. NHKLSEN @WENEGTER FDH HEATING APPLIANCES MM@ Janv 727', 192%? Patented Sept. 29, i925.`

PATENT HCE."

KARL K. NIELSEN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINIS.

. CNNECTER FOR .HEATING APPLIANCES.

Application led January 27. 1922. Serial No. 532,081.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I,r KARL K. NmLsnN, citizen of the United States, residinfn at Chicago, in the county of Cook and @tate of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in a Connecter for Heating Appliances; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

y My invention relates to electrical connecters of the socketing type adapted for use in affording electrical connections to pins or plugs forming circuit terminals. Connecters of this general type are commonly used for making the electrical connections to electric heating devices having terminals in the form of projecting pins or studs. In practice, the pins or studs as employed on diiferent makes and types of such devices are not uniform in size even if substantially cylindrical in the shape of their contacting portions, and on some makes of electric heating devices are ilat instead of round. For this reason, the so-called attaching plugs .or connecters as commonly sold in connection with flexible cords lfor carryin thev current to such heating devices will not properly fit these devices interchangeably.

Moreover, while it is customary-to some extent to provide such connectors with spring arrangements to make the contact clips adapt themselves to vvariations in the size of the interposed pin or stud, the ad- ,justment thus provided commonly reduces the extent of contact to a small portion of the length of the interposed pin or stud. Consequently, instead of having this pin irmly'clamped between a pair of clips engaging the pin for a considerably length,

the engagement is so short that it permits,

the detachable connecter to rock on the pin and affords such a limited, contact as to cause a sparking or arcing. This arcing is increased when a strain on the connecter causes a rocking of the "latter and soon culties and to provide a connecter of the above described type in which each pair of the associated clips -is so mounted that the clips comprising that pair can rock with respect to each other so as to engage an interposed pin or stud for a considerable length thereof and so that this engagement along a considerable contact area -can readily be secured with round pins vary- Furthermore, my invention aims to providek such contact clips in a simple and inexpensive construction and one which can readily be employed in` connection with the two-part insulating casings or bodies as commonly employed for such connecters. It also aims to arrange the ,parts so that the desired action of the spring means will be secured automatically and without requiring either particular care in the assembling of the parts or a knowledge of the size or type of connecter pins with which the connecter is to be,used.`

Still further and also more detailed ob-i jects of my invention will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which 4 Fig. 1 is a plan view of a twin terminal connecter embodying my invention, with a portion of the casingbroken away to show the position of one pair of the clips.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse vsection Vtaken along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse section taken along the line 3-3..of Fig. 2 and showing the connecter as used in connection with a substantially cylindrical terminal stud or pin.

Figjil. is a similar section showing the same connecter vas used with a flat terminal stud.

pair of the connecter clips, taken along the line 5--5 of Fig. 2.

Fi 6 is a plan view of the lower clip of Figs. 2, 3 and '4.

Fig. 7 is a bottom view vof the upper clip of the'same figures. 0 A

Fig. 8 is a section similar to the forward Fig. 5 is a transversesectionthrough oneI portion of Fig. 2 and Ashowing another I vention afterthe manner of the accompanying drawings, I provide theusual insulating 'casin 1 made of a rubber composition or the like in two parts normally secured to each other by bolts 2 and cooperating to provide a pai'r of parallel bores 3 both opening at the forward end of the casing and both leading to a single bore 4 at the rear end of the casing through the wires 5 lead out to the source of current.

Disposedwithin each of the bores 3 is a pair of contact cli s, one of which is conf nected to a wire 5 y a screw 6 while the other has portions slidably engaging the Saforesaid clip but is not directly connected to the circuit wire. In the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2, the wire connection is made to the upper clip 7 by a screw 6 threaded into the same and this clip has at its edges -a pair of notches 8 forming guides for u standing guide fingers 9 on the correspon ing lower clip'lO. Each of the two clips has a contacting part consisting of a concave portion 11 which desirably corresponds in form for the major portion of its length to a portion of a cylindrical tube having its forward end ared out, and which desirably has longitudinal border strips 12 at its opposite edges, these border strips 12 bein disposed in the same plane with each other. The portions 11 on the twoclips comprising each pair of contact members have their concave faces directed towards each other,

so that these faces may simultaneousl engage o posite sides of the\terminal pin 13- to whic means for simultaneously urving the same towards each other and a' aihst the interposed pin, Aand I desira ly 'make these spring means integral with the clips 7 and' 10. For this purpose I am here showing each clip as provided at its o posite edges with s ring fingers 14 whic are l bowed away rom each other and away from the axis of the bore 3 housing the clip, and which finders are continuously forced by their resiliency against the upper and lower walls of the bore 3 of the insulating casing so that they tend to force these4 clips closely towards each other when no terminal pin or studfis inserted between them. When such a terminal pin is inserted by slidably' introducing the same (as permitted by the flarin mouth ends of the contact portions "respect to the terminal the circuit connection isfto be made` allows the pair of clips to rock about their said engagement with the saidiwalls of the bore housing the same, so that they can automatically adjust themselves to cause the said contact ortions 11 to engage a considerable portion of the length Vof the interposed terminal pin. I therefore secure long contacting surfaces which are automatically adjusted according to variations in the diameter of the interposed terminal pin and which grip the latter for such a .length as to avoid any rocking of the contact clips with pin. By so doing, I avoid the arcing and pitting of either the pin or the clips even when the same connecter is used interchangeably with currentconsuming devices having terminal pins which vary considerablyin diameter.

Moreover, by providing each of the clips with border strips 12 as above described, I am able to use the same connecter clips also with current consumin devices employing flat terminal studs such as the stud 15 of Fig. 4, as the border strips 12 will bear flatwise against the opposite edge portions of such a flat stud 15 so as to clamp the latter firmly. So also, the yielding of the. spring fingers 14 permits each pair of connecter clips to tilt or move somewhat in any desired direction, so that the clips will automatically adjust themselves to little variag tions in the spacing of a pair of terminal pins or studs on any appliance, or to a departure from an exact parallel position of such pins. My construction therefore enables me to rovide adetachable connecter which can e used `interchangeably with current-consuming devices varyin widely in the sizes of their terminals, while assuring an ample and firm electric contact in every case. To facilitate the automatic adjusting of the contacting clip portions to the size and shape of the inte osed pin, I desirably arrange the spring ngers 14 so that the bearing of the same a ainst the walls of the bore 3 housing the c 11p will be approximately opposite the midd e of the length of the clip portions which engage the interposed terminal pin or stud, after the manner shown in Fig. 2.

However, while I have 'illustrated and described my invention in an embodiment including guide fingers 9 on one of the clips and including a pair of spring fingers 14 integral with each of the clips, I do not wish to be limited to these or other details of the construction and arrangement thus disclosed, as it will be obvious that many changes might be made without departing either from the. spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. For example, instead of using spring fingers integral with the clips and engaging the opposite wallsy of arms 17 and 18 respectively engaging the outer faces of the contact 'parts 11 on the two clips and continuously tending to force these towards each other. With either embodiment, it will be obvious that each pair v of clips is to a certain extent floatingly supported in the insulator bore housing the same and has freedom for adjustin itself to the size, shape and position' of t e terminal pin with which it is to be used. Consequently, no particular care needs-to be exercised in using such connect'ers, as the wireman merely opens the casing by removing the bolts 2, connects each wire to one of the clips by the screw 6 threaded thereon and again closes the insulating casing.

I claim as my invention 1. A connecter of the type described includingv an insulating casing, a wire terminal clip inthe casing composedv of two v parts formed to engage opposite sides of a pin, one of said partshaving a pair of notches formed in ,its` side edge and the other part having a pairof guide ngers freely received in the notches, and formed so as to permit either part to have rocking movement throughout its-length independent' of the other part, kmeans to connect a wire to one of the parts, and sprin means.

for each of the parts interposed v e'tweenv same and the casing to form bearings intermediate the lengths of the parts about which bearings the parts may independently rock. v 2. A connecter of the-type described including an insulating casing, Va wire terminal clipA in the casing composed of two parts formed to engage opposite sides of a pin, means for mounting the parts whereby to permit each 'part to have rocking movement throughout its length. independent of the other part,.means to connect a wire to one of the parts, and spring means for each of the parts interposed between same and the casing to form bearings intermediate the lengths of the 'parts about which bearings the parts may independently nook. p

3. A connecter of the type described in- .cluding an insulating casing, a wireterminal clip in the casing composed of two parts formed to engage opposite sides of a pinmeans to connect the partsqto permit each to have rocking movement throughout its length independent of the other, means to connect a wireto one o the parts, and means to mount the parts to cause same to closely engage the pln and to enable each of the parts to have independent rocking movements. v

4. A connecter of the type described including a chambered insulating casing, ka wire terminal cli in the chamber composed of two parts, ormed centrally of their widths to engage opposlte sides of a pin,

each part having a pair of spring fingers located on the respective opposite sides of the`central portion, said fingers having their outer side edges in engagement with opposed walls of the chambers, the ngers having bowed portions engaging other ropposed walls of the casing.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, J an. 24th, 1922. l A

. KARL K. NIELSEN. 

